Car unloader



July 31, 1923. 1,463,302

- F. E. TOWNSEND CAR UNLOADER Filed Nov. 29, 1920 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 July31, 1923.

' 1,463.302 F. E. TOWNSEND CAR UNLOADER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 291920 %mif July 31, 1923 FL E. TOWNSEND CAR UNLOADER 4 Sheets-Sheet 5NEY.

INVENTOR. FEYZa/IzYen ATT Filed Nov. 29

July 31, 1923.

1 1,463,362 F. E. TOWNSEND CAR UNLOADER Filed Nov. 29, 1920 4Sheets-Sheet '4 Q 4 l INVENTOR.

F E7Zwnfend Jig? Patented July 31,1923.

. ire ST as 4 1,463,302 PATENT-or fice.

' FLOYD E. 'rownsnnnor BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, AssIGNon or. O E-HALF r0 n.G.

PALMER, or sale FRANCISCO, ol' LiroanIA.

can UNLOADER.

Application filed November 29,1920. Serial No. 426,913.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FLOYD E. TOWNSEND, citizen of the United States,residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda, State of California,have invented'a newand useful i Car Unloader, of which the following isa specification in such full and clear terms as will enable thoseskilled in the art'to construct and use the same.

This invention relates to a car unloader and its object is to produce amachine which is capable of swinging an elevator leg trans versely fromside to side ofthe car and also being capable of moving the elevator leglongitudinally of the car'a suflicient amount to unload a good portionof the car without moving the car or the elevator supporting apparatus.v

A further object of the invention is to provide an unloading apparatuswhich will be as low as possible in order to enable it to be admitted todocks and railway stations where low doors must often be passed through.

Another object of theinvention is to re;

.duce the total height of thecomplete apparatus in operation as much asis consistent with the elevation of the materials handled, to adischarge chute, to a bin or to a truck body. I

Another object of the invention is to provide the apparatus with acontrol mechanism which will all belocated conveniently adj acenttheposition of the operator, his platform being placed high enough forhim to observe the operation of the elevator at all times. c Other}objects of the invention as the description proceeds.

An embodimentof the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings inwhich the same reference numeral is applied to] the sameportionthroughout, but I'amJaware that there may be modifications:thereof.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the complete machine. i

will appear .plete machinelo'oking from the left Fig. 1'.

Fig. 3 is. a plan View of the complete machine. 5 g f r i Fig. 4 is anenlarged View of the elevator leg swinging mechanism.

- Fig. 5 is an enlarged frame tilting mechanism. w

turn table gear. V

Fig. 7 is a plan View of the square shaft Fig. 2 is"a;v1ew;inelevationtof the com- Fig. 6 is a plan View of the portion ofthe usedfor driving the elevator chains.

The apparatus comprises a suitable truck body 1 mounted on four wheels 2to 5 inclusive in order that'the truck may be transported from place toplace readily. The truck body carries a'pair of cross beams 9 and 10which support a platform 11 on the outer edge of which is a ring gear,12.

The platform 11 supports a pluralityfiof roller bearings 13, whichbearings in turntouch' a circular track 14 onthe under side of theplatform 15.

Brackets 16 and 17 placed wherever needed are secured to the under sideof the platform 15 and serve to holdthe platform from tipthereon... I 1

The platform 15 has a king pin 18 which ping over, in case an unduestrain is placed I 15 there are upwardly extending brackets 19 and 20which pivotally support two double posts 21 and 22.. These posts havesuitable bearings at their upper ends for a heavy tion by means of twobraces 24, 25,'said braces being connected to the outer ends of shaft 23and they are held in an upright posithe posts 21 and 22 and to brackets26 and-27 projecting upwardly from the back end of the platform 15.

The shaft '23 supports two heavy arms29, I

30, and said arms have two shafts 31, 32 at their ends. The two shafts31 and .32 and the arms 29 and 30 connect therewith forminga tiltingframe for the support of the elevator. This frame is tilted by a screw33 which passes through a pivotally mounted nut 34 on the arm 30. Thisscrewis turned by the operation of ahand wheel 35'on ,a

shaft-.36, saidlshaft extending through a worm 4 0. The worm 40 engagesa worm wheel 41 onthe screw shaft 33 and said screw thereby.

shaftpasses'through a bracket 42 which allows suflicient' movement ofthe screw shaft with respect to the shaft 36to permit adjust- 1 ment ofthefarms29, 30 and shaftscarried view of the head Mounted above. theshafts 531- and32 a-re. i

'operators platform 56.

two arms 43, 44, said arms each having two bearing blocks through whichthe shafts 31 and 32 pass.

The arms 43 and 44 are connected with suitable cross members 45,46 and47 which hold said arms in'a fixed position relatively to each other forthe support of the elevator leg 48.

The two arms 43,44 are adjusted longitudinally of their supportingshafts 31 and 32 by means of two screws 49 and 50. These screws aresupported I by suitable raised bearing plates 51, 52 carried by the arms29 and 30. The threadedshafts pass through threaded nuts 53 and 54,carried by the arm 44'and said screws are operated by a hand wheel 55 onthe end of the screw 50 over the The operators platform 56 is carried bythe post 22 and it hastwo bracing membe'rs57 and 58 to hold it properlyin position.

A sprocketlgear 59 onthe'shaft 50 has a chain 60 passing thereover andaround a sprocket gear 61 on the shaft 49 so that the frame consistingof the arms 43 and'44 is always moved parallel to the supporting arms 29and 30.

Mounted in bearings 61' and'62 on the 7 back end of the arms '29, 30 isa square shaft 30- 63, thisshaft passes through collar bearings 64,65carried by the arms 43,44 respectively and it passes through thecenter of a sprocket gear 66 which is held in position against thecollar 64 by means of a strap 67 "secured to the back end of the arm 43.

Depending from the front end of the two arms 43 and 44 are two suitablybraced elevator frames 70, 71 which frames are sup ported from an'aXle72 on which are two sprocket wheels 73, 74 and-Ia drive sprocket car ordigging too deeply into'the pile of material to be handledand'cuttingthe floor ofthe car.

About one-third the distance from the top of the elevator leg'there aretwo links 84'and 85 which are pivotallyconnected to the elevator leg at86 and pivotally connected totwo other links 87 and 88 by means of ashaft 89. The shaft 89 is enlarged at its center which will receive athreaded shaft 90. This shaft 90 is supported by a U sh'aped stirrup 91extending over" the shaft 92. The shaft 92 is in turn supported by thearms 43, 44- and" its end opposite from the hand wheel 93 is supportedby a bearing 94 on the arm 29, said bearing alsoaffording means throughthe collars 95 and 96 for preventing the shaft 92 from movinglongitudinally as the arms 43 and 44 are moved longitudinally of theshafts 49, 50. s A bearing 97 supports the wheel end of the shaft 92when the arms 43, 44 are moved at a distance therefrom. The shaft 92 hasa feather-way 'to receive a key 99 carried by the small bevel gear 100,which bevel gear is in mesh with a largerbevel gear 101 on the tip endof the shaft 90.

In order to rotate the platform 15 there is a vertical shaft 105provided with a small pinionl06 at its lower end and with a hand wheel107 at its upper end, the hand wheel being in reach of the operator whostands upon the platform 56.

A bearing 108 supports the upper end of the shaft 105 and prevents itfrom. dropping down." The apparatus is driven from a suitable motor 110on: the platform 15, said motor having asprocket chain 111 which passesaround-the sprocket wheel 112 freely revoluble on the shaft 23.

At theside of the wheel 112 there is a small sprocket wheel 113- whichhas. a sprocket chain 114 extending around the same and around asprocket wheel 115 on the squared shaft 63.

It will be observed that whateverposition the elevator leg supports 43,44 ma be placed, that the sprocket wheel 66 will be carried along withthem and will be driven by the squared shaft 63.

Extending over the sprocket wheel 66 is a sprocket chain 116. This chainin turn extends over the sprocket wheel 7 5 at the outer end of thesupporting arms 43, 44 and drives the shaft 72, which shaft supports theelevator frame and its associated chains and buckets.

The'operation of the apparatus is as follows: Assuming it to benecessary to move the truck from one place to another place in which theheight of the apparatus is too great to permit it to be moved as itappears in Fig. 1, the motor be moved to one side on the platform '15and the-braces 24, 25 may be disconnected whereupon the supports 21, 22will be allowed to swing downwardly and rest upon any suitable supporton the platform 15. The only requisite being that when the supports aredown, that their upper ends shall be'far enough off the ground toprevent the right hand ends of the arms 43, 44 from touching the ground,whereupon the truck may be moved through any ordinary doorway. I

When the truck has reached the place "where its'is-to be operated, theposts 21 and 22 will be raised and the braces 24, 25 will beiapplied asshown in Figs'i-l to 3inclusive. Thereupon the workman mounts the plat--form 26 and he will raise the elevator leg high enough to pass over thetop of the car to be unloaded by the operation ofthe hand Wheel 35. Atthe same time he can extend or retract the elevator leg as may benecessary by the operation of the hand wheel 93.

s the car is unloaded he will from time to time move the elevator leglengthwise of the main supportin shaft 23 by the operation of the hand weel 55, continuin this operation until he has unloaded a space in thecar equal to the length of the shafts 49, 50. The car can then be movedand he will either run the arms 43, 44 back to their original positionor may move the car a sufficient amount and continue the unloading untilthey are restored to their initial position, moving them from time totime as he may require.

If it is not intended to run the truck 1 squarely up against the car, orif it is desired to drive it alongside thecar, the body 15 may berotated to any desired position by the operation of the hand wheel 107.It will of course be apparent that any suitable chute may be used toreceive the material dumped from the buckets 81 as they pass over thetop of the elevator leg, said chutes forming no part of the presentinvention.

What I claim is as follows, but various modifications may be made in theconstruction shown in the drawings and above particularly describedform, within the purview of my invention.

1. An apparatu of the character described comprising a truck, supportingposts carried thereby, a tilting frame, arms carried by said frame andmovable parallel to its axis,

means for tilting the frame, means for moving said arms, a swingingelevator leg supported by aid arms, an elevator chain carrying bucketspassing around said swinging elevator leg, means to adjust the positionof the elevator leg and means to operate the elevator bucketsindependently of the adjusting mechanism.

2. An unloading apparatus comprising a truck, posts thereon, a tiltingframe mounted on the posts, means to shift said frame to and hold it inany desired adjustment, 2. second frame mounted for transverse movementalong the first frame, screws for effecting the movement of the secondframe, an elevator leg upported by one end of the second frame, means tooperate the elevator in said leg, and means connecting the second frameand elevator leg for swinging the elevator leg forward or back at will.

3. An unloading apparatus comprising a truck, pivotally mounted I poststhereon, braces for holding the posts erect, a tilting frame on the topof the posts, a screw for tilting and holding said frame in any desiredadjustment, a pair of connected arms forming a second frame mounted fortransverse movement along the first frame, screws for effecting saidmovement, an elevator leg carried by the second frame, mean to operatethe elevator in said leg, a pair of connected double links forswingingthe elevator leg from said second frame, and a screw connectedwith said links and with the second frame for swinging the elevator legbackward or forward. v

4. An unloading apparatus comprising a truck, post thereon, a tiltingframe mounted on the posts, means to tilt said frame and hold it in anydesired adjustment, a second frame mounted for transverse movement onthe tilting frame and supported thereby, means for moving said frameback and forth on the tilting frame, an elevator leg supported by thesecond frame, means to drive the conveyor in the elevator leg from thetruck platform, swinging links to move the elevator, an elevatedoperating platform and 'manual means adjacent the operating platform forthe operation of all of the adjustments.

5. An unloading apparatus comprising a truck, a turn table, an elevatedoperating platform thereon, posts carried by said platform, meansadjacent the operating platform for turning the turn table, a tilting vframe carried by said posts, a second frame mounted for transversemovement along the tilting frame, means to move the second frame alongthe tilting frame, an elevator leg carrying a conveyer supported by thesecond frame, depending links connected with the elevator leg and withthe second frame for swinging the elevator leg and means on the truckfor driving the conveyer in the elevator leg.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 22nd dav'of Nov.A. D. 1920.

. FLOYD E. TOWNSEND.

